Patent application EP 1 708 313 in the name of the Applicant discloses a connection assembly comprising a first multi-contact connector and a second multi-contact connector of complementary type. Each connector comprises a housing receiving contacts, and the connection assembly includes a cap enabling the first and second connectors to be locked together.
Another known connection assembly comprising multi-contact connectors is sold by the Applicant under the trade name Amphenol-Air LB—Series 1900. In that connection assembly, in addition to mechanical and electrical connection that is provided via their connection faces, mechanical coupling between the connectors is also provided via polarizing keys in the form of screws F1 and M1 having hexagonal heads in which the end portion is either a tongue or a corresponding slot. A screw with a hexagonal head projects from each of the two lateral ends of the housing of the male connector and from each of the two lateral ends of the housing of the female connector. Each screw head includes a notch constituted by a flat of the hexagon and constituting a first visual coding mark. At each of its two lateral ends, each housing is marked close to the complementary hexagonal recess for a screw head with a second visual coding mark in the form of a letter A or B, and above each flat of the hexagonal recess with a third visual coding mark in the form of successive digits 1 to 6. Thus, in order to perform coding with the four polarizing keys in the form of screws, each of them is inserted in a complementary hexagonal recess in a lateral end of a housing while causing the first visual coding identifier, i.e. the notch of the screw head to corresponding with the second and third visual coding identifiers, namely the letter A or B and one of the digits 1 to 6. Such a polarizing system with four polarizing keys distributed individually on each lateral end of a male or female connector housing is advantageous since it enables polarizing coding to be performed with up to 36 combinations. Nevertheless, it is not completely satisfactory, since it allows the codes to be viewed only from the rear faces of the housings, and above all it always requires an extractor tool to be used in order to remove the polarizing keys from their recesses. When snap-fastened in a connector housing, a polarizing key can be removed only from beside the coupling face (where the connectors couple together), and necessarily by applying pressure with an extractor tool.
The inventors have sought to have a connection assembly as described above and sold under the trade name Amphenol-Air LB—Series 1900, but that is also fitted with a cap that slides on one of the housings so as to enable the two multi-contact connectors to be locked together, e.g. such as the cap described in European patent application EP 1 708 313. Unfortunately, in its unlocked position, such a cap must come into register with one of the lateral ends of the housings, thus making it impossible to provide polarizing at that lateral end by using screws as provided in the commercially available assembly. In other words, the inventors have come to the conclusion that improving the commercially-available connection assembly by providing it with a cap for locking the connectors together implies having keying at only one of the two lateral ends of the housings. However, by retaining the polarizing by means of screws as is presently performed and as described above also implies making do with coding having a number of combinations that is limited, being equal to six.
There therefore exists a need to improve a connection assembly comprising two complementary connectors, in particular multi-contact connectors, such as the assembly sold under the trade name Amphenol-Air LB—Series 1900, in particular in order to fit it with a cap for locking the connectors together and with a polarizing system at only one lateral end, but with the possibility of coding on a large number of combinations.
There also exists a need to eliminate the use of a tool when removing a polarizing key from a housing of a connector, in particular a multi-contact connector.